Hey IPACs, I would be willing to pay $30 or $40 USD for a Aerofly FS4 DLC that added Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and New Mexico to complete the Western USA map coverage. Is there any chance of this happening in the next year or so or ever?
Posts by jayeye2011
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My experience with Flight Sims only started about a couple years ago and my preference is for casual short 30 to 60 minute flights for sightseeing not real life pilot training or being an airline or airforce pilot fantasy.
FSX - decent selection of aircraft including freeware, very outdated 3D scenery graphics, fastest loading flight sim after Aerofly FS series, best glider thermal soaring experience using free CumulusX! program (with this it has user configurable cumulus cloud based thermals).
X-Plane 11 - widest selection of aircraft including freeware, most aerodynamically and flight systems correct flight sim, scenery graphics not much better than FSX, very costly in money and/or disk space to get photo-real scenery (Forkboy2 and Orbx TE about 4TB storage). Take the longest to load up for flight especially if using Orbx Lib and Orbx TE scenery (like 5 minutes with SATAIII SSD and PCIe NVME SSD).
Aerofly FS 1 - fast setup, only Swiss Scenery, only handful of aircraft, but does have usable thermals with optional visual cueing.
Aerofly FS 2- fast setup, USA West coast photo-real but only CA, NV,AZ,UT,CO have autogen and airports and not many airports, New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming states have no coverage while Oregon & Washington have photo-real tiles but no autogen or airports. A few more aircraft than FS1 and some very expensive Just Flight addons and costly addon sceneries mostly of no interest to me. Autogen building & trees is very sparse and mostly missing except for a few metro areas, lot of 2D white roof rectangles rather than actual 3D buildings, no real road objects. Thermal soaring sucks.
Aerofly FS 4 - fast setup, denser autogen building & tree coverage, USA West now has WA and OR state autogen with some airports, still less than ideal airport coverage with respect to non-internationals, GA aircraft selection even with $40 dlc is pretty much barebones with no LSA, Ultralite, or bush planes. Photo-real scenery detail is good but not great (Yosemite National Park not very good Half-Dome landmark is pretty bad). New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming states still not included. Thermal glider soaring still sucks even after the recent update to make it easier to accidentally run into thermals but thermals are still to narrow in diameter to be able to stay circling in one.
MSFS 2020 - bought it, several crashes while trying to install it, when not crashing got about 10% download after almost 2 hours due to 2 Mbit/sec MS server even though had a 100 Mbit/sec internet service at the time (now 700 Mbit/sec). Turns out my old house with to expensive to replace coax cable wiring induces random network packet dropouts which MSFS netcode cannot handle without crashing so I refunded on Steam before the 2 hour limit was exceeded. I am pretty sure that MSFS 2020 streaming scenery and updates is not ever gonna work for me, so Aerofly FS 4 is it for sightseeing flights (well except for the pretty much non-existent selection of aircraft suitable for sightseeing flights).
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Thanks for the clarification.
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Jet-Pack (IPACS) I read the procedure for converting existing FS 2 aircraft to work in FS 4, but I was wondering if you only have the final compiled user install package of the aircraft, in my case the freeware Do27 for Aerofly FS2 is it just a matter of editing the Do27.tmd file to FS4 standards? Or do you actually need to have the raw image (png), sound (wav), and intermediate 3D graphic object (tgi) files because the FS2 version of their compiled output files (ttx, tsb) is not compatible with FS4? I can manually edit the tmd and tmc files myself but I do not have access to the raw source files.
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Ok, are you sure? Well, guys like you should know that there is also an email address at IPACS
Sorry, I just thought you were just saying you knew how to make FS2 aircraft like the Do27 work in FS4 without requiring the original source files so I wanted to find out how that is possible since I had already read the Aerofly link on what needed to be done to do so and it did not seem possible using the already compiled end user installation files.
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Here is the actual file list sorted by type that are in the FS4 Aircraft SDK DR400 folder which you run the FS2toFS4 converter tool on.
You just do not get these files in your standard end user Aircraft install folder.
Here is the Do27 installed aircraft files listing.
So no, you cannot run the FS4 aircraft converter on the Do27 folder.
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A slight correction regarding my remarks about requires 3D CAD files for FS2 aircraft to be able to convert to FS4. You actually only need the aircraft's FS2 plugin generated Intermediate 3D Model files (.tgi file extension). These are not included in the user install package for the aircraft. Even Mr. Kaniewski does not include his 3D model source files or the .tgi files in his GitHub repository.
According to IPACS you can reuse the following FS2 files for the FS 4 converter tool:
You can leave the following files unchanged:
- Raw sound files (.wav)
- Raw texture files (.bmp, .png, .tif, …)
- Intermediate 3D model files (.tgi)
- Aircraft options file (option.tmc)
- Aircraft clickspots file (controls.tmd)
Updating Aircraft for Aerofly FS 4 | Aerofly FS
So the files missing in the user install package for the Do 27 (or any other aircraft end product) are:
The Raw texture files, Raw sound files, and Intermediate 3D model files The .tmc, .tmd files are part of the end user aircraft install package.
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By doing some research here, you will certainly find, or at least part of the answers to your questions
Well, if you know something don't keep it to yourself as inquiring minds want to know how to convert and FS2 airplane without have the actual 3D CAD program source files.
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The DO 27 from AF 2 is not an ultralight, but at least a slow plane with a lot of windows for good sightseeing. I tried to convert the DO 27 to AF 4 without success. I think that's a trifle for someone who is practiced with converting.
The aircraft conversion requires that the intermediate files be generated from the original 3D CAD files (i.e. Blender) using a FS4 plugin which is what the converter wants to see. You cannot convert a finished user installed FS2 airplane directly. So the only one who can do a Do27 FS4 port is going to have to be the original author who I think is no longer present.
Here is what I think it would take for IPACS to offer up an CFM Shadow Ultralite addon:
IPACS Marketing Guy: " Hey, our Apple IPad focus group say that FS2023 users really really want to see a CFM Shadow in the App store"
IPACS Aerofly Product Manager: "Holy Cow, Batman! It'll be ready for upload to the Apple App Store by the end of next week,,, Believe It!"
IPACS Aerofly Product Manager: "Oh, as long as we're doing it, might as well sell on the Steam store for 20 euros"
IPACS Marketing Guy: "Man, that's cold. We only charge 2 euros in the App Store"
IPACS Aerofly Product Manager: "Yeah, but those Steam guys are a bunch of A-Holes"
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Well, I imagine the IPACS Aerofly FS 4 product manager is looking at this thread with amusement and thinking to him or herself, "Small number of comments by the usual cast of suspects, oh yeah this would be a real money maker...we will get right on it...NOT!"
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Tomfa Although it is a just a little bit off-topic for this thread, I read your Switzerland quality thread and too tell you the honest truth as I see it, Jet Pack who is the official IPACS company representative for this forum kinda gave you the answer to your request already in his post RE: Image quality comparison of Switzerland
My interpretation being a native US English speaker is that he is saying that IPACS only licensed the various Switzerland imagery used for FS 1 for FS 1 only and the imagery used in FS 2 for FS 2 only. So IPACS can not just turn around and use the Switzerland FS 2 imagery in FS 4 without paying for another license specifically to allow use in FS 4. But that is economically infeasible for IPACS since they already paid for a complete Western Europe imagery package from another vender which already included Switzerland even if the new imagery package with respect to Switzerland is inferior. So they are not going to do it since IPACS doubts enough people are going to be willing to pay for an extra Switzerland only DLC to make it justifiable from a profit (keep the lights on and meet the payroll for IPACS employees) standpoint.
Edit: If you have a true product defect bug to report, I feel that it is better to send an email to Aerofly tech support because IPACS will enter it into their internal bug tracking system and you will get a email response and updates as the bug report is processed. Also you can create a support request at the Aerofly.com support center https://www.aerofly.com/ticket/index.php
Aerofly Support email: Aerofly Support <support@aerofly.com>
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From the casual flier point of view it's a good experience, From the VR user point of view it's highly immersive, smooth and enjoyable
You are exactly right! It's a great casual flyer flight simulation. Even without VR the photo-real scenery provided along with the improved autogen buildings & trees placement make it worth taking a look around in any aircraft that is good for flying low and slow and that has a good unobstructed outside view from inside the cockpit. Sadly, there is only the DR400 that fulfills this criteria presently and to have that you need to download, install, then run the FS 4 converter tool in the FS4 Aircraft SDK, which I don't think most people know about or want to take the trouble to do. That is why I am all for IPACS adding ultra-lite and LSA aircraft of that nature even if it requires an additional paid-for DLC. I very much dislike IPACS' focus on jet & turboprop commercial transports, WWI and WWII aircraft and jet fighters.
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Looking at the official Aerofly Flight Simulator Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@aerofly just confirms that primary development effort is for smart phone and tablet users who must mostly be native Germans since that is the language for the videos. My personal experience is that the TMD interface documentation is very poor, it consists of only an on-line wiki which does not even list all the TMD objects and for the ones it does have a wiki page for there are often parameters shown in the example code that have no actual documented definition, and it still seems to be FS2 information. Makes if very hard to troubleshoot problem issues in some of Mr Kaniewski's FS4 freeware tmd file conversions. If this is the only level of documentation on the flight model I very much doubt that Just Flight or any other commercial developer or even new freeware guys are going to be producing airplane addon products for Aerofly FS 4, any time soon if ever.
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I suspect IPACS makes most of their money from iOS and Android Aerofly FS 20xx sales rather than the more limited PC Aerofly FS 4 sales. So I don't expect to see much more work done for no extra charge, especially the making of additional aircraft (because no third party developer is going to do it either). So a second multiple aircraft DLC package you pay for is going to be the only way to get more professionally designed aircraft models added to it. Mr. Krzysztof Kaniewski's Github repository is appreciated of course, since he is doing what he does for free. But that repository has its limitations since he does not have infinite time to work on fixing things that don't work properly or have not been implemented in the first place for his various offerings.
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Here is a list of planes that could be considered as potential candidates:
Aeros-2 Ultralight Trike
American Champion Super Decathlon
Aviat A-1C Husky
Beechcraft Bonanza V35
Cessna 152
Cessna 210 Centurion
Diamond DA20
DiamondDA40
Grob 109
Grumman Tiger AA-5B
Kit Fox/Euro Fox
Maule M-7 235B
Polaris AM-FIB
PiperSport (aka CSA SportCuriser)
Piper PA-28-161 Warrior II
Piper PA-28-181 Archer III
Piper PA-28R Turbo Arrow III
Piper PA-18 SuperCub
Piper PA-38 Tomahawk
Piper PA-32 Saratoga II TC
Pipistrel Sinus Motor Glider
PZL-104 Wilga 2000
Seeker Aviation Seabird Seeker
Tecnam P2002
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If IPACS could put together another airplane DLC that focuses on just single engine GA, LSA, Bush Planes, Ultralites I would gladly pay for that. Frankly, I don't think we will be seeing any other commercial 3rd party developers stepping up to do this for Aerofly as there is a bigger market in MFSF 2020 and X-Plane 12.
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Here is an informative aerial photo of KUDD
Source: https://flyingcalifornia.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/picture-081.jpg
KUDD does not have a control tower and the fuel tanks are near runway 10.
I will hope this airport eventually gets updated for FS4 because I prefer to have a runway object defined because the base terrain mesh irregularities can make for a rough landing.
And that tree on runway 28 is odd, I guess you will need the FS4 Airport SDK to define an exclusion zone .
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EGLC as seen in FS 4
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Yes, hasn't IPACS said they will give us the tools we need to make airports, etc.? Or is there something I may have misunderstood?
Yes, Jet-Pack (IPACS) did say that. My point is it should have been ready for release when Aerofly FS 4 version 1.0 was released back in July 4, 2022. 5 Months later (or is it 6) it's still not done and maybe even more critical than the Aircraft SDK was since more people donated free airports for FS 2 than airplanes.
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Because the new Aerofly FS 4 airport .toc, .tsc and .wad files are binary format files rather than Aerofly FS 2 toc and tsc which were text format files I am not sure how this is even supposed to work. Also, why did IPACS switch to a binary format which is going to take a special software tool to generate rather than sticking with text format files. This just makes it even less likely to encourage people to bother with making scenery for Aerofly fs 4. Even Laminar Research got smart and switched from binary to text format aircraft definition files during the mid-life point for its X-Plane 10. You want to make it easier for others to make addons for your simulator (both free and commercial payware) if you hope to have a big user base for your game. An if you are going to require a special tool than you should have it ready to go before you even release the game.
